


The Love Puzzle

by danniek



Category: DCU (Comics), Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cheating, Prostitution, Questioning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 12:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14213172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danniek/pseuds/danniek
Summary: Oswald hires a prostitute in a move to (finally) get over his cheating ex. Sigyn is listed as a co-creator because this is based on our interpretations of the boys on our RP site.





	The Love Puzzle

Yellowing wallpaper proves just how old and rundown the motel is and it brings out the pastiness of his skin. But it feels like a fitting location; decrepit, dirty, in a state of disrepair. It is the only spot worthy of such an exchange. Oswald would have never in a million years imagined that this would be him. And the dingy building would have never in a million years thought that he, who pulled the strings and made the calls for elaborate crimes across the country, would ever grace its halls. He was supposed to be growing old in his home, perhaps training someone to take his place, but his career was all he had left now. His polished shoes, sitting in front of the door, and his suit felt (and looked) painfully out of place.  
Yet here Oswald was. The duvet beneath him was itchy, the room reeked of cleaning products that failed to redeem its condition. And there was an annoying buzz that reverberated from the furnace, so annoying that he turned to check it every couple of seconds. He could have paid for a nicer room, at a better hotel, or even used his own home. But Oswald wanted a location where he would be anonymous, and somewhere he wouldn’t have a reason to go to again. He would never have to hide his logic for avoiding a hotel like this one, anyway. He had trouble hiding his discomfort in milder situations, like revisiting the cafe (or even the block near it) he had been to with his ex only once before. Oswald had organized his life to avoid reminders of the love he had lost. And this little arrangement was supposed to help him forget it - for good.  
A man like him never had to wait - people knew better than to leave him waiting. He was in a position where he could enact consequences for something much less. This wasn’t anyone else’s fault, though. Oswald had made the decision to arrive early, and he wasn’t going to blame anyone else (for once).  
He felt his pulse jump when the door finally creaked open and the woman stepped through. He had gone through someone else to hire her, far too embarrassed to have his own men know what he was up to this evening. They would never have to know, Oswald told himself. This would be his secret. He didn’t want the whole world to think he could only scare someone into intimacy, but he also didn’t want them to think paying for it was his only alternative. Well, at the very least it would distract him enough that he could find more conventional comfort. Which didn’t mean turning back to the bottle again - he had been trying to stop. He told the few acquaintances he had that he stopped. He wasn’t going to go down that path again, which was why he had decided to pursue this one, wasn’t it?  
The woman was older. He had requested that, because Oz knew he would feel much too self- conscious around a pretty young thing, even if she was paid to be with him. The dress shirt he wore was wrinkle-free and pristine, but the buttons struggled to hold together. His hairline was rapidly receding, proof that he was nearing this woman’s age.  
If she were young, he would want to know what, exactly, had landed her where she was. At least with an older prostitute she had time to figure out that this was for her, or maybe she had given up on trying to get out of the...business. And Oz knew how it was to feel undesirable, from the playground taunts as a schoolboy to the first girl who kissed him revealing that it had been a dare. More recently, it had been the large period of time he had spent pretending he wasn’t even interested in love - when really, there just wasn’t anyone interested in him.  
Nevertheless, his preoccupied mind was distracted by her sudden presence beside him.  
“Well aren’t you cute.”  
Her voice came out a rasp. She smoked. He could smell the tobacco on her, he could hear it in the way she spoke. The way her lips curled and moved, highlighting the deep-set wrinkles around her mouth. If her lip twitched any higher, the gloss would smear onto her face; why would she pick lipgloss in a profession like hers?  
But today wasn’t about focusing on their vices. Oswald said he was going to get over Eddie; and this would be how. “I, uh,” Oz spoke hesitantly, his hands steepled in his lap as his eyes failed to meet the woman’s. “Nothing..nothing special. Just, what you would usually do. I can pay you now or later, I promise I have more than enough.”  
He knew how to set up an arms deal but for whatever reason verbalizing what he wanted from a prostitute came as a challenge. It was always the simple communication he had struggled with. In retrospect, Oswald knew this was part of what had doomed his relationship with -  
“You are jumping right into this, aren’t you?”  
She interrupted his thoughts and he nodded in reply. That was all it took for her to spring into action. The lady still took her time, though, which lead Oswald to believe that she was being paid by the hour. Or the minute. No matter, he would pay her more than enough. The woman had inched to cuddle up to his side, kissing from his earlobe to his collarbone. Oswald shrugged his shoulder out of the way, and she stopped, looking at him with an almost annoyed quirk to her brow.  
“Nervous, mister?”  
He chuckled in an attempt to hide his discomfort. “No, no, well. Perhaps a little. This is my first time doing...hiring...What is your name?”  
“You can call me what. Ever. You would like to call me.” She drawled, her mouth twisting into a grin. She was trying to butter him up, he could tell. “There is no shame in being new, honey, everyone starts at different times…”  
She fell back to where she was, working a hand under the shoulder of his suit coat, and trailing to the button that held it together. Oswald’s hand jumped to cover hers, almost a tremble to his fingertips as he stopped her pursuit.  
“No, no. I do mean it, I do call myself a gentleman. What is your name, miss?”  
“Miss. I haven’t been called that in a long time. You are certainly trying to live up to your claim, aren’t you? Some gentleman though, meeting me here tonight.”  
“I know. It isn’t like me. Your name, please?”  
“You just won’t let that go, will you?” she sighed, “I go by Natalie around these parts. Is that enough for you?”  
“Thank you Natalie. You can...go back to, um, what you were doing.”  
She audibly laughed and snorted at his command, moving to straddle the larger man now that he was no longer twiddling his thumbs in his lap. The button came undone, and then the next, and he awkwardly wiggled out of the coat.  
The gesture had apparently been a horrible idea; because now Oswald was thinking of him again. Eddie’s first few nights at his home, when he had finally been released from the facility.  
Oz had grumbled and huffed when his doctor said he shouldn’t be left to sleep alone - “Nightmares?” Oswald had scoffed, but the doctor’s expression grew stern. “They don’t send people here because they have nightmares, Oswald.”  
And he had grumbled those first few times, too. Because Edward would thrash in his sleep, occasionally hitting Oswald along the way. Oswald had arranged for his release in the first place, talking to whoever he had to in order to have it done. At the time, Eddie had proven that he could be an invaluable employee. He had made a mistake (although most tend to view murder as more than just a ‘mistake’), and Oswald didn’t see it as enough reason to let Ed's mind go to waste. He was in a hospital of sorts because he was sick, there was a reason he wasn’t in a prison.  
Oswald had been looking for help at work, and Edward had conveniently written to him during his stay. The other man had revealed information that Oswald would have never known himself which helped to protect his business. After all, he just ran a regular business. And even regular businesses were riddled with corruption. He had never signed up to babysit his new colleague, or to make sure he was grounded when he was hit with nightmares, hallucinations, or voices. More importantly, Oswald had never signed up to fall in love with him, either.  
It had been that fateful night seated at the piano bench, when they had both found someone to complete the other half of Heart and Soul. Oswald should have known he was a lost cause from there, that months later he would confess his feelings to the man who had since betrayed all he had felt for him. But when Natalie touched him, he only felt a phantom of what Edward’s caresses had been - but he had cheated. He had cheated and been forgiven once. And then he had cheated a second time and he apparently felt no remorse, so why should Oswald believe that he wouldn’t cheat again? Oswald had said how important the privacy of their love life was to him. Even when Edward insisted on presenting a bastardized version of it to the public as he went on with his theatrical antics, like their love was some performance the whole world was supposed to watch in on. He put up with it.  
He would have, he did put up with so much of what his partner - his ex had done but he had to take it too far.  
Natalie had been kissing him with little response. She went to work at his tie, but Oswald reached to block her hand before she could. Her hand dropped immediately.  
“I’m sorry. I can’t do this. Not with you.” Oswald sighed and Natalie left her perch, sitting back beside him, but providing him with more distance than before.  
“You picked me. Sorry if I’m not what you were looking for, but you did have a choice.”  
“Oh, no, no, Natalie. I - I, I didn’t mean it like that. You are lovely. It has nothing to do with you, it has everything to do with me.”  
“Right. So if we are done here then you can pay me for the time I was already here and then I will be on my way.”  
“No, no. I am so sorry, you don’t make enough I am sure. I will pay you, don’t worry, for the full time, but, I would - would you care to stay a little longer?”  
She was about to spit out a reply but her expression softened as he spoke. “Not, I don’t want to try to have sex with you. I just, I would rather not be alone right now. Can you stay? I will pay you for your time and more. Please don’t leave me.”  
She had been halfway out of the bed already, but that was what it took for her to cozy back up to his side. She was still keeping her distance, then. “I have a schedule,” she paused to consider his offer. “We are still on the schedule.” It was odd that those were the words she chose when she decided to lean against his chest. Perhaps she was seeking comfort in him, too.  
Oswald felt himself shiver involuntarily when a hand came to rest on his chest as well, and that’s what set off the alarms in his head again.  
“Oh no. Please don’t do that, that was where, that was how, that - it reminds me too much of him. That was how we used to sit together.”  
She moved at his request. Oswald hadn’t considered that his situation had turned sour because he had hired a woman. He could try again, with a man; he did want to hold someone, to have someone hold him again, even if he wasn’t feeling it the same with Natalie. But who was he kidding? He didn’t want to hold anyone, he didn’t want to have just anyone hold him. He wanted Eddie back in his arms, to hear his ramblings about whatever project he was working on next - Oswald had complained about them before, but now he missed every habit or quirk that had once bothered him. He missed Eddie.  
It was like he had known going into this that their relationship had never been about the sex. Oswald knew Edward was indulging in these sorts of activities, so he wanted to try and use the same method. If it worked for Ed, maybe it would work for him. And he wanted someone who was as different from Edward had been in every single way; older, unfamiliar, female.  
“Will anyone be able to touch you anywhere that won’t remind you of him?”  
But it still wasn’t any use. Natalie’s question echoed in the back of his head a few times. Oswald didn’t have to consider it very long.  
“No, I am afraid not. I don’t think anyone else will be able to quite like he did, either. I doubt that anyone else he’s slept with was even acquainted with the same person I knew. The man - he, he’s literally killed before. But he was always so gentle to me.”  
“Then why are you wasting your time?”  
Oswald had promised to pay her after all. He was not in any condition to fight, and the way his breathing was labored probably made making a run look easy. And Oswald was definitely not in the mood to chase after anyone.  
“I can’t go back to him. He would take me back in an instant, I am sure, but he would be so smug that I returned and I can’t stand the thought of seeing him like that.”  
“Is what you’re feeling really worth saving your ego?”  
“You don’t understand, Natalie. I love him. I loved him.” He quickly corrected himself although Oswald wasn’t convinced, so it was unlikely the woman beside him would be. “I was never enough, though. I couldn’t have possibly been or he wouldn’t have…” his chin dropped to his chest as he tried to blink the tears he didn’t know he had been fighting. “Damn it. He doesn’t deserve me crying over him, the idiot. He thinks he’s so clever and if I go back he’ll have gotten away with everything.” And apparently he had won. It didn’t matter what Edward had done or would do, because Oswald couldn’t even tell this prostitute that he wasn’t still in love. “I could slap the stupid grin off of his face but I would much rather kiss him.”  
There was part of Oswald that wanted to see his ex beg for his forgiveness. Maybe hear a confession, put him up to a task or two. Only so Oswald could look him in the eye and turn him down, even after all of that. He liked doing things in his own time and his ex seemed to run on a different clock. It was part of what had made their relationship difficult; they were rarely on the same page. Almost ten years his junior, it was hard to believe that Eddie wanted only him, especially since the time before only him hadn’t been enough. Oswald knew the clock was ticking for him - he unconsciously ran a hand through his thinning hair again, feeling the way his pants dug into his waistline. He couldn’t recall how long they had felt so snug, and he had told himself time and time before that he would never have to squeeze into a pair like this. This was only a fraction of what his ex went through with the feeling of the wrong fabric against his skin, from what Oswald had noticed, but he would take Eddie’s sensory processing in an instant. If only it meant he could hold the same appeal his partner seemed to.  
The man had tuned out entirely; perhaps Natalie had been rambling to him the whole time. Or maybe she was going through her bag. Whatever she had been doing, she had finally caught his attention. The word fat had escaped her lips, and Oswald had no doubt that it had been about him. That was the same language people had used to taunt him since he was a boy. While it was only a matter of time before the fact would be undeniable, Oswald didn’t need other people pointing it out to him. And he certainly didn’t need her to do it.  
He looked her over, jaw hung loose in disbelief for a brief second, before it set as his eyes narrowed. Whatever words she had on the way were swallowed with a gulp, because apparently his gaze had said more than enough. Oswald quickly buttoned his dress shirt, finally rising so he could go to the mirror to fix his his tie. It was a brief gesture so he could compose himself, and he returned to the bed to pull his suit coat on and retrieve his wallet.  
“I know who you are.” Was the next thing she said.  
Oswald didn’t reply to maintain the dead silence that hung in the room as he shifted through the cash, clearing his throat harshly enough that Natalie jumped.  
“Honey, whatever happened with your boyfriend or whoever, you can pay for anyone else’s time.”  
He slid the bills across to her one at a time as he spoke, “Honey. Not even Edward called me that.” The hint of a smirk played at Oz’s lips at the way she hung on every word, not making even a twitch towards the payment in progress.  
“You know Natalie, I am sure your current occupation has made you feel wanted, no matter how you turned up here.” A sing-song sigh, uncharacteristic of the current tone escaped the man’s lips, “Enough people know who I am that a word would be enough for them to kiss my feet. Just imagine what else I could get them to do. I didn’t want to fuck you because I can have my pick anytime. But, I could choose to return to someone who loves me.”  
He didn’t correct himself at the change in tense.  
“You should be lucky you were even a blip on my radar. In fact, you can take all of the money I have on me!”  
Oswald finished emptying his cash onto the bed before he turned to put on his shoes. “You are going to need it more than I do.”  
The door shut behind him on his way out. Oswald could feel his hands shaking from the residual adrenaline of the confrontation. Who would have thought he only needed to use a power play to up his heart rate?  
That would have been funny, if Oswald weren’t aware of just how true it was.  
Perhaps it had been an overreaction. She could have been talking about someone else, or something else, but he couldn’t let it slide. Natalie had made a mistake saying the word, but most importantly she’d been mistaken to say she recognized him. If he had been anonymous, he wouldn’t have snapped on her. Or, maybe he would have, but that didn’t matter to him anymore. He wasn’t going to go back to the man who had wronged him, Oswald knew better than to do that.  
He would only remember that it was still an option. And he did have the choice to recover the missing piece of his life.

**Author's Note:**

> So I really had to water this down because I was turning it in (with different names) for my creative writing class. If there's some things that are too blunt in here, it's bc I didn't want to go through explaining the concept of an ace-spectrum character to my class - or the way that questioning it goes.


End file.
